Ceiling suspension rail



Sept. 19, 1961 Filed Dec. 8, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 26 Y 23 m K 24 J 246 0 25 /j m T 28*- 22 l 3 \Q 20 l E 22 27 INVENTORS. LEON S. FRIEDMAN ERNEST L. SPENCER BY LEON SELIGSON AT TORNEYS p 9, 1961 s. FRIEDMAN ETAL 3,000,474

CEILING SUSPENSION RAIL Filed D90. 8, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. LEON s. FRIEDMAN ERNEST L. SPENCER 22 20 y LEON SELIGSON 041 f aL Ja/ ATTORNEYS Sept. 1961 L. s. FRIEDMAN ET AL 3,000,474

CEILING SUSPENSION RAIL Filed D60. 8, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 i 33 27 K r/ F 12 l 1 i j Z 22 22 FIE. 13 27 INVENTORS. LEON S. FRIEDMAN ERNEST L. SPENCER By LEON SELlGSON 0.4.2:?- WAL IM ATTORNEYS 3,000,474 CEILING SUSPENSION RAIL Leon S. Friedman, Ernest L. Spencer, and Leon Seligson,

Columbus, Ohio, assignors to National Aluminum Company, Columbus, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 8, 1954, Ser. No. 473,777 1 Claim. (Cl. 18936) Our invention relates to a ceiling suspension rail. It has to do, more specifically, with a rail of modified T'- section which is particularly useful in suspending ceilings of various materials in tile, wallboard or sheet form, although it is not limited to use in ceilings, but can be used in other building wall structures.

It is common to suspend false ceilings from some overhead member of from the main ceiling merely to provide a lower ceiling or to provide space for air conditioning, modernized lighting, etc. In suspending the false or other ceiling it is common to suspend inverted T-shaped rails upon which the tile or wallboard is rested. However, to connect these T-rails together in alignment or in angular relationship to form the necessary supporting network requires special fasteners and special tools.

It is the object of our invention to provide a modified T-section rail for use in suspending a ceiling of tile, wallboard, or other ceiling material, the rail being of such a nature that sections thereof can be readily connected to each other in alignment or at any selected angle to form a suitable supporting network without special fastening members and without special tools.

In the accompanying drawings We have illustrated our invention. In these drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view illustrating the modified T-section rail and its use for supporting a tile.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged end view of the rail.

FIGURE 3 shows the rail used with a grooved tile or building board.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary enlarged end view but showing a modification of the rail.

FIGURE 5 is a side view of a connecting clip used in connecting sections of the rail together.

FIGURE 6 is an edge view of one of the connecting clips having connecting portions at right angles.

FIGURE 7 is an edge view of a clip with connecting portions at an acute angle.

FIGURE 8 is a similar view with the connecting portions at an obtuse angle. 1

FIGURE 9 is a side view of a connecting clip having serrated or saw tooth edges.

FIGURE 10 is an edge view of a corrugated connecting clip.

FIGURE 11 is an isometric view showing two sections of the rail connected together in alignment.

FIGURE 12 is a plan view showing two of the rails connected at right angles.

FIGURE 13 is a sectional view taken on line 1.3I3 of FIGURE 12.

FIGURE 14 shows a network built up from the rails and suspended from suitable supports.

FIGURE 15 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but showing the modified T-section with the lower flange on one side only of the web.

With reference to the drawings, in FIGURE 1 we have illustrated a rail of modified T-section supporting a tile or wallboard 21. An enlarged section of the rail 20 is shown in FIGURE 2. In this figure, it is shown in the normal position in which it is used. It comprises the lower horizontal flange 22 having the oppositely extending portions and the vertically disposed web 23. These T-rails are ordinarily formed and used in this manner. However, the modified T-section of this invention is pro:

- United States Pass? 0 struction difliculties.

Patented Sept. 19, 1961 "ice shown in FIGURE 2, adjacent to the lines where the lips 24 join the web 23, the lips are provided with weakening grooves 25 on their lower surfaces which facilitate bending down of the lips. If will be noted that the outer edge of each lip 24 is turned downwardly slightly and 1s a sharp or knife-edge 24a.

The rails may be formed from suitable material, for example, they may be extruded or fabricated from aluminum or other metal. They may be formed in other ways from other materials but the material should be of such a nature that the lips can be bent down and will stay in their deformed condition. The lips 24 may be formed at a level higher than the thickness of the sheet material 21 to be supported thereon which will rest on the portions of the fiange22 as shown in FIGURE 1, although they may be at a lower level and fit as a tongue into the grooved edge of the tile or wallboard 21a shown in FIGURE 3. However, they should be located sulficiently below the upper edge of the web 23 that openings 26 can be formed therein to permit suspending of the rails by wires or other suspending members cooperating with such openings.

In FIGURE 4, we have shown a rail section 20 which is like that shown in FIGURE 2 except that the opposed lips 24a and 2412 are at different levels. This structure would be desirable if tile or 'wallboard of dilferent thicknesses on opposite sides of the web 23a are to be used, or to overcome other architectural, structural, or con- The clips used on opposite sides of the webs will also be of different heights.

To connect adjacent rail sections 20 together, metal clips, angles, or splice bars will be used. If the rail sections 20 are to be connected in a straight line, as shown in FIGURE 11, a straight flat clip 27 of the type shown in FIGURE 5 will be used. This clip will preferably be of the same metal as the rail sections and will have a height corresponding to the height of the space 28 between each of the lips 24 and the cooperating portion of the flange 22. It is merely necessary to slip the opposite ends of the clip 27 into the sockets formed by the spaces 28 which will be in the adjacent rail sections 20 which will be disposed in alignment for connection, and to bend or crimp the adjacent parts of the lips 24 down on the upper edge of the clip 27 as indicated at 30 and 31 in FIGURE 11, the knife-edge 24a serving to indent the clip and more tightly grip it. If the rail sections 20 are to be connected together at right angles as shown in FIGURES 12 and 13, a right-angular clip 27a of the type shown in FIGURE 6 will be used. To connect the sections they are disposed at right angles to each other. The one end of the clip 27a is inserted in the space or socket 28 in one end of one of the sections 20 and is held in place therein by crimping the lip 24 downwardly thereon as indicated at 32 in FIGURE 12. The other portion of the clip is slipped transversely into the socket 28 intermediate the ends of the other rail section 20 and is held therein by crimping down the adjacent lip 24 as indicated at 33 in FIGURES 12 and 13. The end of one rail section 20 can merely abut the other rail section intermediate its ends as shown in FIGURE 12 and no special cutting of the rail sections is necessary to cause them to interfit since the clip 27a will firmly connect them without such interfitting cutting. The rail sections 20 may be connected at various other angles by clip 27b of FIGURE 7 which is shown at an acute angle, clip 27c of FIGURE 8 which is shown at an obtuse angle, or any other angle depending upon the particular job. The straight clip 27 of FIGURE 5 may be bent easily into any desired angular form and-special angle clips'will not supporting T-section rails 20 secured together in the manner indicated by straight and right-angular clips. Only right-angularly disposed rail sections 20 are shown but as previously indicated, the rail sections maybe connected together in any desired angular relationship. These rails 20 are shown suspended from a suitable support by the Wires 34 although other suspending members r nay be used. The rails 20 are disposed parallel or at right angles and receive the tiles 21 or sections of Wall- 'board therebetween which will rest ontthe flanges 22 of "the adjacent rails.

The lips 24 will project inwardly only slightly and sufficiently to be bent down around the clips 27. The tiles 21 may be passed upwardly between the flanges 22 of the adjacent rails 20 by tilting and turning slightly, and then will be allowed to settle on the flanges 22. I

In FIGURE 15, we have shown a modified T-section or angle section in which the flange 22a extends in one direction only from the web. The lip 24 in this instance also will be on the one side only of the Web 28 and this will be the same side as that where the flange 22a is located. This arrangement will be desirable when the tile or board need be supported on one side only of the web, as along a sidewall, pillar, pilaster, etc.

It will be apparent that we have provided a supporting rail for tile, wallboard or the like, which has a vertibendable gripping lip intermediate the height of the web which facilitates joining together of the sections with simple clips and simple tools.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim In combination, a plurality of strips for use in supporting wallboard, tile or the like, each of the strips having a vertical web and an outwardly projecting horizontal flange at its lower edge, and a bendable lip extending outwardly horizontally from the web of the strip intermediate the height thereof and projecting outwardly from the web a distance substantially less than the distance which the flange projects outwardly therefrom, said lip extending the full length of the strip and having a continuous slot extending longitudinally thereof near the web to serve as a weakened portion to facilitate bending of the lip downwardly towards the flange of the strip, said lip having a downturned knife-edge at its outer edge, and a clip for connecting adjacent strips together, each of the ends of said clip extending into the socket of each strip formed between the lip and the flange thereof, said lip being bent downwardly over the upper edge of said clip so that the knife edge contacts with the side surface of the clip.

References Gite d in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,710,679 Bibb June 14, 1955 2,767,440 Nelsson Oct. 23, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 517,350 Great Britain Jan. 26', 1940 582,383 Great Britain Nov. 13, 1946 640,811 Great Britain July 26, 1950 

